The latest study from uSwitch has revealed that 86% of UK broadband users still don’t understand the usage limits on their service and nearly one million have reached or exceeded their ISPs limit in the last year alone.

This is particularly important because 56% of major providers are prepared to disconnect those that abuse the service. However it also shows how damaging bad marketing can be, with 6.2m people believing they have an "unlimited" service with no restrictions:


The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is also blamed for making the problem worse by allowing providers to describe their services as "unlimited" even if there is a fair usage cap (FUP), as long as it is detailed in the small print.

However, consumers are none the wiser with over 10 million broadband customers never reading their FUP and a further 1.8m do not know if they have read it or not. Unsurprisingly 7.5m do not even know their download limit, which is understandable when so few providers clarify it:


Sadly just 22% of the major broadband providers are transparent and advertise the true limits of their packages. However limits are usually necessary to help maintain a good balance of price and service quality, though some ISPs do indeed need to end the culture of vague FUP's and the “all you can eat” style approach to broadband advertising.